Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a substrate carrier, and more particularly, a substrate carrier with integrated electrostatic chuck suitable for use in a vertical and other processing systems.
Description of the Related Art
Plasma display panels, organic light emitting diodes (OLED) displays and liquid crystal displays are frequently used for flat panel displays. Liquid crystal displays (LCD) generally contain two glass substrates joined together with a layer of a liquid crystal material sandwiched therebetween. The glass substrate may be a semiconductor substrate, or may be a transparent substrate such as a glass, quartz, sapphire, or a clear plastic film. The LCD may also contain light emitting diodes for back lighting.
During manufacturing of flat panel displays or solar panels, plasma processes for depositing material layers on the glass or transparent substrate may be repeatedly performed to form structures comprising the flat panel displays or solar panels. Some processing systems hold the substrate in a vertical orientation during processing. During processing of the substrate in a vertical orientation, it is often difficult to control the mask portion of the substrate. Often the mask is clamped a single time to the substrate and that alignment is thus maintained throughout the entire deposition process. Expansion or repositioning of the mask cannot be accommodated.
Furthermore, the substrates processed in a vertical orientation are often held on a substrate carrier using mechanical clamping force. Conventional mechanical clamping carriers used to hold a substrate during transfer and sometimes processing may often result in substrate damage due to the high mechanical clamping force. In addition, the conventional mechanical clamping carriers generally hold the substrate at the edges, thus resulting in a highly concentrated physical contact with the edges of the substrate so as to ensure sufficient clamping force applied to securely pick up the substrate. This mechanical contact concentrated at the edges of the substrate inevitably creates contact contamination or physical damage, undesirably polluting the substrate. Particularly, for substrates used for smart phones, plasma display panels, LED or solar cell applications, thin substrates are often utilized, thus increasing the difficulty in transferring the substrates without damage.
In conventional plasma processing applications, the temperature within the chamber may be controlled at different ranges. Some applications with organic materials formed on a glass substrate, the temperature controlled in a plasma process is typically below 250 degrees Celsius. In a vertical processing system, temperature control for the substrate carrier during plasma processing has become challenging as poor control of the temperature to the substrate carrier may not only result in material deposition failure, but also affect the chucking ability to the substrate disposed thereon, inevitably leading to inconsistent or undesirable electrical properties of the substrate carrier which adversely affects the carrier's ability to hold substrates. Thus, it would be desirable to have a substrate carrier having enhanced heat resistance and temperature control as well as the capability to chuck thin substrates during processing.
There is a need for a method and apparatus for transferring substrates in a processing system suitable for maintaining the substrate in a vertical orientation while effectively interfacing with a mask.